SAN FRANCISCO – As the fall semester quickly approaches, the Academy of Art women's soccer team has officially announced the schedule for their 2017 campaign.
 
The season will kick off in Nampa, Idaho against a pair of unfamiliar foes: Northwest Nazarene and Western State Colorado. The Urban Knights have only faced the Crusaders once in their nine years of competition, but have yet to go toe-to-toe with the Mountaineers of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
Upon their return, ART U will host UC Merced, another program that the Urban Knights will be facing for the first time. The Knights will follow with their final non-conference tune-up against SF State on September 13. The two programs have faced each just twice dating back to 2008.
 
Academy of Art opens up PacWest-play on September 21 when they head to Notre Dame de Namur, but will host their first conference matchup two days later against Dominican. There, the Urban Knights will look to snag their first victory against the Penguins since 2012.
 
After a quick trip to the campus of UC Santa Cruz, ART U will head to Hawaii for their biennial trip to the Aloha State. The Knights enjoyed success in their previous trip in 2015, going 3-1 against Hawaii Pacific, BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade, and UH Hilo. With the Seasiders no longer in the conference, ART U has taken two out of the last three matches from each of their remaining Hawaiian PacWest foes. Academy of Art has been particularly successful against Chaminade, having won five of their last six contests and are 8-3 all-time against the Silverswords.
 
Upon their return, the Knights will play three out of their next four matches on their home turf with opponents including: Dixie State, Concordia, and Holy Names. ART U will then head back out for their final road trip of the season. During their two-match trip, they will face a pair of PacWest powerhouses including Azusa Pacific and California Baptist. The Cougars and Trailblazers finished first and second in the 2016 conference standings respectively.
 
Their final homestand will begin on November 11 when they welcome in Biola University, the newest member of the PacWest. The two teams have faced each other just once (2009), but this will be the Eagles' first trip to San Francisco. Two days later, ART U's 2017 regular-season campaign will come to a close when Point Loma heads north from San Diego. The Sea Lions tied for fourth in the PacWest a year ago.
 
For the complete 2017 Academy of Art women's soccer schedule, click here.